


December Drabbles

by 11_Gadget_27



Series: Mercenary!AU [5]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Biotics, Gen, Other, Single word prompts, Time Skips, Turian, Writing Exercise, month long exercise, original turian characters - Freeform, warnings for mention of child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:41:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 16,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27817726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/11_Gadget_27/pseuds/11_Gadget_27
Summary: Another month long single word prompt a day exercise taking place in my Mercenary!AU, this time following Mav and Sept's children. I'll adjust tags as I need to. You can find the prompt list for December here: https://crassussativum.tumblr.com/post/636137973685043200/december-2020-single-word-writing-prompts
Series: Mercenary!AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932319
Comments: 68
Kudos: 2





	1. Day 1: Bond

Inner Hierarchy Space, aboard the Talonstriker: 2216

It was said the only units closer than pilot’s were familial. At least, that was what his current unit-mates and CO kept telling him. Still, Ailuros felt out of place. He was one of the youngest to graduate and earn an esteemed placement so quickly in a number of decades. He was certainly the only teenaged recruit to step off the transport shuttle into the hangar of the Talonstriker. Spirits, everyone else he’d traveled with was at least five or more years older and he was still baby-faced. His voice still had a tendency to crack when he spoke and with all the teasing he was getting for _that_ , he couldn’t imagine being as close to his fellow pilots as he was his family. 

Ailuros took a big breath and that first step forward into the hangar, into his new life. The ship was huge, like dreadnought sized or possibly bigger, but in this hangar alone there were twenty stationary fighters waiting deployment. And Spirits, they were _gorgeous_. New and shiny and streamlined. He couldn’t wait to fly one. 

“Don’t be nervous,” A voice drawled next to him, the Palavenian accent familiar and warm.

Ailuros glanced over and immediately stood at attention. “Captain, ma’am.”

The Captain waved a hand and laughed lightly. “I’m off-duty right this second, it’s just Dame.”

He blinked and fluttered his mandibles. Call a superior by name? What? “Er... As you say,” He hummed. “And I’m not. Nervous, I mean. I’m not that nervous. This is... a huge honor, Captain. Huge. I’m excited.” 

She shrugged, a hand on her hip and a smile spreading her mandibles. “You can be both. I was both way back when.”

Ailuros felt his own twitch into a smile. “I reckon then that I’m both.”

“And that’s okay.” Dame gave him her hand. “Welcome aboard the Talonstriker, pilot.” 


	2. Day 2 Pattern

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a strong feel for Elysia's character yet but I'm working on it, she'll feel real soon.

Cipritine, Palaven: 2226

Elysia wasn’t impulsive by nature. She couldn’t be and be biotic too. Every action was measured and thoughtful because actions had consequences and when you could move things with your mind, you had to take the time to _think_. To focus. Slow and methodical, that was her, even in the face of total un-supervision and a hefty amount of credits in her pocket. She didn’t make rash or snap decisions unless the situation called for it and shopping didn’t call for it.

The tattoo parlor was nice. The rooms inside were private and obviously they specialized in colony markings. That Elysia couldn’t have because it was illegal for biotics to wear their colony markings on their face for reasons she’d never been able to make real sense out of. It was stupid and unfair and when Pa finally got the Primarch to _listen_ and integrate Cabal and Hierarchy, it wouldn’t be illegal anymore. She could wear Palaven’s colors then. Elysia wasn’t sure she even wanted to. Blue was so... She saw enough blue with her biotics, she didn’t really care to see it on her face in the mirror every day too. Carthaan orange or Thracian magenta... now, those were good colors.

And this wasn’t impulsive at all. She’d designed the interlocking pattern weeks ago, had taken the time to perfect it until Dad’s markings and Pa’s markings were one in the same, until the colors formed a gradient. Elysia had even planned how much of her arm it would take up and figured out how much it would cost. She had the right amount with her and the artist she’d picked was known for being unconventional.

It wasn’t an impulsive decision, Elysia had planned and mulled over every detail. When she showed the artist her pattern, he’d nodded his head and grinned and so had she. 


	3. Day 3: Distort

The Citadel: 2219

Dad’s mandibles were tight along his jaw, even the crooked one was sitting so close that Elysia could see it quivering. He was more upset than she’d seen him in a long time. Pa had already cried and now his mandibles hung all loose and limp and outright shaking with each breath. Ailuros though... he was almost smiling but she could see how they tilted nervously.

“Does... does it look that bad?” He asked them, looking between their parents and then down at her as he gestured to his face. The new cybernetic eye didn’t quite match the color of his organic one, the bruising and swelling looked painful but at least the wounds were stitched closed now. “I mean... it’s not... healed all the way yet... but does it look bad?”

“It... it doesn’t look _bad_ , Ailuros,” Pa said at length, glancing at Dad just once. “It... Spirits, you...”

Elysia watched Dad put an arm around him. “It’s just that you were hurt that’s upsettin’ us.”

Ailuros’ mandibles fell lose. “I know.” He said. “It’s not as bad as it coulda been, I’m still not totally sure _what_ happened but I know I got lucky.”

Elysia dropped Dad’s hand and inched closer to Ailuros’ bed. “Did it hurt?”

He blinked at her and the cybernetic one was a little slower than the other. “It... it hurt a lot.” He said. “But my flight suit dosed me fast with pain killers so it didn’t hurt for long.” Ailuros looked up at their parents. “And we weren’t far from the Citadel anyway so the Cap had the med unit bring me right here.”

Dad made an approving sound in the back of his throat. “Your Captain okay’d the cybernetic replacement?”

“Yeah,” Ailuros said in an obvious tone. “I mean, I can’t pilot with just one eye.”

“Can you see out it?” Elysia asked and climbed up on the foot of the bed with her brother. “Is it robot code or like normal?”

He snorted a laugh. “It’s not robot code,” He said. “It’s hard to explain. I can see but not like I could yet. Everythin’s all distorted and upside down and gray-scale but the doctor said that’d fix itself as the implant got used to me and I got used to it. Right now it’s like using a dusty mirror that’s at a weird angle to see where I’m goin’.” 

Dad snorted a laugh too even as Pa made a strained sound next to him. “How long until you can see normally? Until you can come home?”

“It’s... it’s gonna be a week or more before I can see normally.” He told Pa quietly. “But I could come home today and stay just ‘til I’m better. Cap already told me so.” 

Pa sat down next to Elysia, still holding one of Dad’s hands. “Then come home.” He said.

Ailuros’ mandibles fluttered wildly a moment before he leaned forward and hugged Pa. “I wanna come home.”


	4. Day 4: Mosaic

Cipritine, Palaven: 2219

Elysia had all the crayons in proper order. Lightest yellow to darkest purple at the top of her heat resistant paper with a thick strip of tape holding them in place after she’d propped the whole thing up on a stack of books. They were all brand new, their sides barely touching but she kept fiddling with keeping them straight. It had to be perfect if it was going to help Ailuros see the colors right again. She had already painted a few of the little rocks from the garden to help too, but this... this was the big project. The paper even took up her whole desk! Ailuros was going to love it. She still just needed to melt the crayons a little-

“Whatcha doin’, lovey?”

Her mandibles fluttered. Dad had sneaked into her room again. He was really good at that but she didn’t think it was something he was _actively_ trying to do, dad was just sneaky and quiet by nature.

“I’m making a thing.”

“Yeah? What kinda thing’re you makin’?” He came to stand behind her, head tilted curiously but dad was always interested in her art things.

“A thing for Ailuros.” Elysia said and flicked her mandibles in a grin. “It’s called a mosaic. We learned about it in art class. You’re supposed to use a bunch of _little_ things to make a picture of a _big_ thing.”

Dad nodded and she could see that he actually understood and maybe he already knew what one was. “So what’s the final picture gonna be?”

“Um, well since Ailuros can’t see colors yet ‘til his eye heals, I thought I could help show him them one at a time.” She pointed to each crayon in turn. “Then when I melt them, they’ll all meet down here and make new colors for him to see.”

Dad was nodding again, he liked the idea, she could tell. “Okay then,” He smiled. “What’s your plan for meltin’ ‘em?”

Elysia fluttered her mandibles again. “I... I was gonna use your lighter.” She said lowly. “I found it, but I promise I was gonna be careful and put it back when I was done!”

Dad’s mandibles shifted just so. “Or I could do the meltin’ part for you. You’re... too young to use a lighter, Elysia.”

She sunk a little in her chair. Dad always called her _lovey_ and not by name. It was as close to a scolding as she ever got. “Would you help me melt them, daddy? It would be a lot safer, you’re right.”

His mandibles shifted again and he sighed, holding his hand out for the lighter. “Just don’t tell your pa you found it, yeah?”

“He already knows you’re smoking again.” Elysia said in a whisper and gave him the little lighter she’d stashed in the desk drawer. 

“I know he knows,” Dad chuckled. “I just don’t think he’d be happy knowin’ you had it.”

“Oh.” That made sense, Pa could be really protective.

Dad kissed the top of her fringe. “What color you want me to start at?”

Elysia grinned at him. “Orange. It’s the nicest.” 


	5. Day 5: Locate

Edge of Hierarchy Space: 2218

_Locate the target... Locate the target..._ It was the only order scrolling through Ailuros’ HUD at the corner of his vision. Locate the target... And then what? Never mind what he was supposed to do when he got to the target location, he couldn’t _find_ the damn thing. His fighter couldn’t land in vegetation this thick and half the surrounding land was nothing but gross swamp. Ailuros couldn’t see the ground and his instruments were having a hard time seeing them too.

“Damn it,” He hissed and probably would have said more but the comms’ channel back to the Talonstriker was open. “Virim to Talonstriker.”

“Talonstriker here.” The reply clicked in his earpiece.

“Readings and I are both blind.” He reported. “Anyone have eyes on the target?”

Ailuros got two negatives in return and swore again. His first time as trio leader and he had nothing to work with. Were his hands not busy with the controls, he’d rub his eyes but any movement to do so would completely change the course of his ship. And then he’d probably slam into one of the freaking giant trees and drown in the swamp. All he could do was take a deep breath and let his ship hover for the moment while he thought up a new approach. 

“Talonstriker,” He tried after a moment, when he’d reached the only conclusion he could. “Permission to break formation and dip to lower altitude?”

A beat of silence. “Permission granted.” 

Ailuros directed the other two of his trio left and right and took center for himself. He leaned into the harness of his fighter, tucking his arms and legs in just enough until he felt the ship respond and sink lower. Flying in a loop, he just barely scraped the top of the trees. That low -but still with cloud cover- he could just make out the hint of a settlement of some kind. And at the edge of it, a barely hidden anti-air-gun and a row of unmanned turrets. 

“Virim to Talonstriker.” He said, feeling a rush. “I’ve found the target.”

“Remove the target, Virim.” The order clicked in.

“Understood.” Ailuros said and exhaled slow, he knew better than to hold his breath when he squeezed the trigger. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unrelated, but y'all remember I said we were house searching? Well we found one and the seller liked our offer and I'll be moving in in January!


	6. Day 6: Soft

Cipritine, Palaven: 2216

Warm and soft and straight from the dryer... Ailuros rubbed his face against the new shirt. A _Talonstriker uniform shirt_. Spirits, he still couldn’t believe he’d been consigned to the ship that had seen a thousand battles and slipped away unscathed every time. Its pilots were the best the Hierarchy had aside from the Blackwatch’s pilots. And in a week, he’d be aboard it as one of them. So yeah, he felt a new type of affection for the uniform he’d just washed and dried and now needed to iron too. Then he’d hang it up, he couldn’t wear it yet, despite how much he wanted to.

He got on that, the ironing and smoothing out all the wrinkles and picking off all the little fuzzies Elysia’s blanket always left behind in the dryer. He’d pulled that out too and folded it, ready to put on her bed... And then he’d leaned down and rubbed his face against it too with a quiet little purr. Spirits, he was going to miss having her under his feet all the time. 


	7. Day 7: Deviation

Cipritine, Palaven: 2209

“Ailuros,”

“Dad!” The little boy put the jar of paint and the little brush down on the vanity in a hurry, his mandibles giving a wild flutter. 

Dad leaned in the door way, a hand on his hip and his mandibles slightly flared. “You messin’ with my paint?”

“Er...” He glanced back at the jar of Carthaan orange and his face in the mirror. The lines weren’t right at all, he saw that now as he looked at Dad’s reflection too. “I just... Wanted to see what it was gonna look like on me.” 

Dad’s expression fell a little. “You won’t be wearin’ that one.”

“I know I’ll get my own jar and I know you’re not supposed to share them,” The boy said. “I was just practicin’ but I reckon my lines are wrong? Will you help me get them right?”

Dad came all the way into the bathroom and wet a little towel at the sink, squeezing out the excess water. Ailuros watched him avidly, he was too quiet and he moved all stiff.

“Dad?” He trilled. 

He knelt and began gently wiping off all the orange. Ailuros realized he must have done the lines very wrong if Dad had to wash them off before he could fix them. No wonder he was all quiet, he was disappointed. The boy hung his head.

“...I’m sorry...”

“Alie, honey,” Dad sighed and pet softly over his fringe. “I reckon your Pa and I didn’t explain it all that well. You won’t wear Carthaanian paint, you’ll wear Palavenian.” 

Ailuros blinked at him. “Why?”

“Cuz you’re born here and that’s just how it’s done.” Dad said, finishing with his face and tossing the wet cloth at the sink. He sighed again. “You don’t really get to pick your markin’s. I was born on Carthaan so that’s why I have ‘em orange. You were born here so yours will be blue.”

“But Pa doesn’t have any markings and I know Thracia’s are magenta.” Ailuros said at length, fiddling with his fingers and the cuffs of his sleeves.

“Pa’s biotic, that’s why he don’t have markin’s, cuz he can’t wear them.”

“That’s dumb.” The boy said a little hotly. Pa got nasty looks all the time because he was barefaced and it hurt so much because Pa was the nicest person he knew.

“Yeah,” Dad nodded his head sharply. “It’s real fuckin’ dumb.” 

“Dad,” Ailuros fluttered his mandibles at him for the swear.

He flicked them back a little guiltily. “You wanna head to the store with me?” He asked, standing back up, running a soft hand over his fringe again. “We can pick up the right jar so you can practice.” 


	8. Day 8:Progress

Cabal Compound, Palaven: 2226

The Cabal uniform was tight, stiff and Elysia felt like she was constantly reaching to adjust some part of it. Training in the thing had proven an absolute pain in the ass. How was she supposed to concentrate on her movements when she was continuously tugging fabric away from places it had no business being? Spirits! Let the Kabalim write her up, she wasn’t wearing the Spirits-damned uniform today.

In _actually_ comfy clothing in the training room with the other cadets, she got a few envious and angry looks. A flare of mandibles and show of teeth took care of that in no time. Let them think whatever they wanted, Elysia had more important things to focus on. 

The biotic sphere enveloped her, a circulation of super-heated air allowing her to drift over the floor, and a thought to direction and she stood at the other end of the room in a blink. Then again, over and over. Elysia could dash all over the place in swirling blue if she wanted to but more importantly, she could do it with precision. Pa had been teaching her how for years since it was a technique Uncle Saren didn’t enjoy using, he said it used up too much energy.

Uncle Saren favored more precise techniques, direct and calculated strikes while Elysia was more fond of a blunt approach just like Pa. She couldn’t wait to show her instructors _that_ little trick, especially when she hadn’t yet seen anyone else do it.... And today, the Instructor wanted to see what she could do. Elysia was all too happy to show him.

It started with the dash, a build up of charging speed across the floor and ended with a detonation point. Her fist slamming toward the ground but not making contact. It produced a sound like a crack of thunder and left a crater several meters in diameter. Elysia had to sit to catch her breath after but that was much better than the last time she’d tried it. She couldn’t wait to see how useful it was in combat.


	9. Day 9: Safe

Mountain Estate of the Primarch, Palaven: 2256

“Primarch, Sir.” Elysia stood at stiff attention and waited for the aging Primarch to acknowledge her. He was busy checking the well-fare of his child and twin grandchildren. The boys, Cicero and Marcian, were stoic and reserved, even as young as they were, but she could see the shimmer of tears in their deep brown eyes. Their mother, Marcilinaes, had a tight grip on both of them and she was just as reserved even as her mandibles quivered.

By comparison, the Primarch was overly emotional. His mandibles shook outright and tears had already streaked his face. He was keening low in his throat too, a garbled sound of anxiety tinged with relief. Elysia couldn’t relate but she could understand it all on the fundamental level. She was glad the children were safe too. She gave Primarch Fedorian all the time he needed to reassure himself of that fact. 

When he had, he led her to the side of the room, a gentle hand at her elbow. “Thank you doesn’t seem like enough,” He murmured, meeting her eyes and she could see all the way to his Spirit in their dark depths. It was something that usually made her somewhat uneasy but at the moment it was a comfort. 

“Thank you isn’t necessary, Sir.” Elysia said, her mandibles giving a little flick. “I’m glad I was able to get to all of you in time and eliminate the threat.”

“The boys tell me you were in the garden with them when the intruders came over the wall.”

“I was, Sir.” She nodded her head once. “Your grandsons are as fond of the flowers as I am.”

“They tell me that, too.” He smiled just so. “They also tell me you made use of a biotic barrier to protect them against the gunfire at great risk to yourself.”

Elysia shifted to rest her weight on her back foot. “I haven’t quite got the hang of dual barriers, Sir, and they needed it more than I did.” The lightly armored uniform she wore had its own kinetic shielding, the children had had nothing.

“You put their safety first.” The Primarch said.

“O’course, Sir.” She had to fight not to blink at him to show the real confusion that statement brought. Of course she had put the boys’ safety above her own. “They’re only children. But they did as they were told to in the moment, they kept their heads straight. You should be proud of them, Sir.”

“I am,” The Primarch said with a nod. “And of you, Elysia. Thank you.” 


	10. Day 10: Fragment

Outer Hierarchy Space: 2219

“Mayday! Talonstriker! Oh, fuck!”

It was something of a controlled, high-speed plummet more than it was a crash. Clouds vanished in a blink, treetops took their place and cliff-sides rushed to meet him. But even with a punctured hull, the cabin pressure all but gone and his fighter skidding to a rough and loud stop, it wasn’t a crash. 

“Talonstriker!” Ailuros barked, his voice rough and cracking through the panic.

“Virim-” The channel sputtered in his ear before smoothing out. “-we lost you in the storm for a moment there. What’s your status?”

The storm? Ailuros felt lost and then he remembered the disturbances his ship had picked up before all hell broke loose. “I...I think I caught a direct hit from the lightnin’, Talonstriker.” He looked around himself, blinking in flashes of bright white in otherwise total darkness. “Cockpit’s open. I’m soaked through.”

“...” The open channel fuzzed out again and he caught only the snippets of words.

“Repeat that, Talonstriker.”

“Sensors don’t report any rainfall.” The voice said. “Are you hurt, Virim?”

His HUD was disabled or he’d just use that to check himself for injuries, it was more accurate anyway, but without it... Ailuros reached up and felt over his shoulders beneath the harness straps. Then down both arms and his chest too, continuing on to feel over his legs. His fingers were numb and pressure didn’t register right, he knew he was touching but he couldn’t _feel_. And that could really only mean one thing, couldn’t it?

“Talonstriker,” His voice cracked again. “I’m er, I’m completely numb here. I think... I think the lightnin’ got me, too.”

There was a long pause in which Ailuros felt his heart start to race and his head begin to pound. Spirits, he couldn’t believe he’d actually been struck by lightning in his own ship, that it had made it through the ship to strike him instead of just skittering off the surface. Suddenly he was painfully nauseous and when he felt it crawling toward the back of his throat, he reached for his helmet. His fingers found a dent in the sturdy plastic, fragmented glass and dripping wetness. A head injury, Spirits. Spirits, the lightning had actually struck him!

“Talonstriker!” His voice came out high-pitched and wavering.

“We’re coming for you, Virim. Med evac is en route now.” His Captain’s voice answered. “Just hold on and take a few deep breaths. You can do that, can’t you?”

“Yes, Captain.” Ailuros answered. “I... My flight suit must’ve dosed me, Ma’am, I’m not in any pain right this moment but er... my helmet is missin’ a chunk and there’s glass everywhere and Command tells me it’s not rainin’ so all this wet has gotta be blood.”

“Deep breaths, son.” The Captain said firmly.

“Yes, Ma’am, deep breaths, that’s what I’m doin’.” Spirits, he hoped it was just his helmet that was missing a chunk and not his head. 


	11. Day 11: Soar

Aboard the Talonstriker: 2216

The harness held Ailuros in place as the long and thin needle of the neural link slid into the receiving port at the base of his skull. It was different than in the simulator ships, connecting with them felt like slipping your feet into the socks of the day before, stiff and vaguely grungy. This connection felt smooth and streamlined like sinking into perfectly heated water. Ailuros was the first to connect with it and he would be the only one. Ships like these were very individual, they had their own Spirits, and when the pilot died they would be scrapped because you just couldn’t adopt a new soul. 

He slid his hands along the controls, feeling the ship slowly grow aware of him as was he was slowly growing aware of it. His heart beat and the engine stirred, he took deep breaths and the wings shifted just so. They were one and he hadn’t even started it yet.

Chares and Hesiod stood to either side of the fighter, both already in their flight-suits and waiting. They would always fly together but the first trip out of the hangar was the most important. Ailuros felt like he’d been sitting in the cockpit for hours just acclimatizing but neither of the veteran pilots seemed the least bit impatient.

“All systems are green,” He told them, careful at first about how he turned his head. The ship was designed to pick up and react to his every minute motion and required an extremely deft touch that was going to take practice. Yeah, nothing like the simulators at all.

“Go ahead and start it up,” Chares directed, his mandibles flicking into something of a smug grin.

Ailuros flicked his back and pushed the button. The ship waking around him brought with it a feeling like that first time you touched a wild animal. Awe and fear and euphoria at a new experience, at doing something you probably shouldn’t but the opportunity was too rare to pass up. Ailuros felt it all like an electric current rushing through him, fringe to toe and back again and then all was still.

“You’ve gotta breathe, kid.” Hesiod laughed from down on the ground. 

“What?” He realized he hadn’t been and that first breath burned in his chest as his laugh chased it out. “This is... light-years better than the simulators. It feels like-”

“-like touching a beast or something.” Chares finished for him, his mandibles flicked outward in that same grin they all wore now. “Y’know you shouldn’t, but damn, why wouldn’t you?”

Ailuros laughed again. “Yeah, yeah exactly.”

Hesiod ran a hand along the hull. “You brought it to life, now you’ve gotta name it, kid.”

Ailuros let the harness support him, his head angled and looking around the cockpit. He’d been thinking up names all week, knowing he’d find the one when it was time, but now none of them seemed right. He felt the ship stir little, like it was waiting too, and he got the sense of a mammoth creature waiting off to the side, just out of sight and watching. For a moment his heart raced. Everyone said the ships had their own Spirits, was that it? Was that what they all were? Why did it fill him with something like dread?

“Ailuros?” Chares called up and there was something in his voice, some thinly veiled knowledge aching to be shared.

He breathed again and felt the ship settle around him. Still watching and waiting but accepting. “Megathirio.” He said after a second or two. An old word, roughly translated into their language: leviathan. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd wanted to actually show him flying bc prompt title, but as I sat down to write it and after bouncing some ideas off some guys at work last night, I found myself dipping more toward the superstitious side of piloting and my idea that the ships may or may not be alive in their own way.


	12. Day 12: Award

Primarch’s Estate, Palaven: 2256

“It looks good on you.” Igni stood with his arms crossed over that huge chest of his, head angled to the side and his mandibles slanted into a grin.

Elysia glanced over her shoulder at the Primarch’s head of security. Ignatius, or Igni as he preferred since the Primarch’s grandchildren had struggled to say his name, was a huge man. He reminded her of one of her dad’s old Blackwatch friends. Built big and wide with a hard stare but an easy smile. Elysia liked him well enough even if he’d been on the fence at first about a biotic joining the Primarch’s private guard. They’re worked that out on the mats and in a few other more intimate settings. Casually, of course.

“It weighs as much as my fist.” She said, taking the Star of Palaven from her chest and holding the medal in her palm again before putting it back and making sure it rested steadily. “I’d hate for it to rip the uniform.”

Igni laughed warmly. “It won’t.” He said and gestured to his own chest and the medals hanging there. “See? I’ve got two of them, plus all these.”

Elysia flicked her mandibles at him. “You’ve got more chest than I do. Surface area.”

“Alright, fair enough.” He laughed again. “You’re just stalling.”

She faced herself in the mirror again and adjusted all of her own medals along with the dress uniform itself. She _was_ stalling. This was...big. “How many biotics do you know with a Star of Palaven?”

Igni flared his blue-tatted mandibles at her. “Two.” He said simply. “You and Spectre Arterius. And that’s just personally. I’m sure there were more before Ves became Primarch, and I’m sure there will be more in the future. Thanks to you and your father, biotics can actually make noteworthy accomplishments within the Hierarchy.”

“Biotics already were.” Elysia pointed out stiffly. “The Primarchs of the past just refused to acknowledge it.”

The giant Palavenian held up his hands and drew his mandibles in tight. “I did not mean to imply they weren’t capable of great things before. Only that...well, you’re right, it’s being acknowledged now. Integration is happening and almost seamlessly. By the Spirits, Elsyia, you’re the first biotic royal guard. The _first_ , that’s a huge accomplishment. Be proud. Set the example and lead the way for others.”

Any fight she’d been itching to pick with him deflated. Igni was right. It was huge and she did have an example to set and an oath to live up to. Her shoulders sagged and then rose with her deep breath.

“Good.” Igni nodded his head and then his mandibles flared into a teasing smile. “Your dad’s waiting in the hall by the way. I had no idea he was so small. I could snap him over my knee.”

Elysia burst out laughing. “No. No you really could not.” She wrapped her arm around his to pull him from the room. “Why don’t you ask the Primarch just _who_ my dad is and why -I bet anyway- he’s only wearing half of his medals.”


	13. Day 13: Instrument

Primarch’s Estate, Palaven: 2250

Elysia leaned against the wall under the patio awning. It would be more comfortable to sit in one of the padded chairs but she had to be ready to move without a moment’s hesitation. You never knew what mischief children could get up to if you so much as blinked. The four-year-old twins, Cicero and Marcian, were well-behaved boys, if a little quiet and aloof. Elysia didn’t think she had ever heard Cicero utter a single word but she could see a sharp mind in those big brown eyes of his. Marcian spoke enough for the both of them but even then it wasn’t much.

They were lounging in a sunny patch of the garden, stretched out in the grass with a small electronic piano between them. Occasionally, she heard the soft notes on the air and Marcian’s voice and then quiet little giggles. Elysia saw them both turn to look at her a few times and then tilt their heads close together to whisper. She couldn’t help but smile a little at them every time they did it. One could only imagine what they might be talking about...

“You don’t have to watch them so closely.” Ignatius drawled.

“Spirits!” Elysia hissed, biotics crackling over her arms.

The Primarch’s head of security barked a laugh. “Sorry, I thought you knew I was here.”

“I did not.” She smoothed down the uniform shirt out of habit and faced him with her mandibles stiff.

Ignatius moved as quietly as her dad despite his size. He was one of three other men -not counting krogan- she knew to be over seven feet tall. He was as wide through the chest and shoulders as a krogan though with the stereotypical blue eyes of a Palavenian turian and he wore the markings on his face too. Elysia thought he’d be handsome if he wasn’t always sneaking up on her just to make her spark.

“Next time you do that, I’ll zap you.” She told him in no uncertain terms.

Ignatius only shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time,” He sighed and took one of those padded chairs. Even sitting, he was as tall as her and he had a clear view of the children. “Their mother called. Parthia’s main eezo plant is leaking. She’ll be staying to oversee the repairs.”

Elysia thinned her mandibles a little. Marcilinaes, the boys’ mother, ran several of the eezo refineries on Parthia and was often away. The Primarch was practically raising the boys himself, not that there was ever any complaints. They seemed to understand at least on some level and everyone enjoyed having them around, especially the Primarch. Still, if she had young children, she couldn’t imagine being without them so much.

“Do we have an estimate on when she’ll be back?”

Ignatius shook his head. “Could be a few days, a week or more. We’ll know as she does.” 

She sighed and ran a hand back over her short fringe, looking to the boys in the sunny patch. They were looking her way again. “I think they miss her.”

“They’re used to it.”

“They can be both.” Elysia said quietly.

The giant Palavenian only hummed in reply. 

She shifted a little against the wall. Ignatius was smiling faintly, watching the boys. Like that, his expression warm and almost fatherly instead of stern, she thought he was handsome. Spirits. She shook the thought away. And in that blink, the boys were standing at the edge of the patio, the little piano held between them.

“What’s up, tidbits?” Ignatius asked them.

Cicero and Marcian shared a quick look and then faced her as one. “Miss ‘Lysia, ‘Ro wants to play you a song.”

Elysia smiled, she loved how he boy said her name and his brother’s. “Okay, sure.”

Cicero flashed her a big smile and took the little piano from Marcian’s hand. Then he knelt on the steps and began to play. 


	14. Day 14: Bridge

Colony of Parthia: 2217

“My dads had their honeymoon here,” Ailuros said idly, just trying to make conversation as he walked with his hands in his pockets across one of the many bridges that connected the islands. This one was a small foot bridge for pedestrians, simple polished wood and nothing like the giants of steel and cable that connected the larger islands. If he concentrated, he could feel it swaying with every step.

“It’s a beautiful colony.” Beside him, Chares inclined his head. “The Talonstriker drops us here once a year for a proper leave.”

“I’d thought we’d be at the Citadel.”

The other pilot chuckled. “We do sometimes, but Parthia is better for the resupply and whatever maintenance we need.” 

Ailuros nodded. He guessed that was because of Parthia’s several eezo refineries and plants. A carrier like the Talonstriker needed that extra boost in its drivecore. He stopped halfway across the bridge and looked over the side, hands on the railing. For miles in any direction, he saw clear waters and a smattering of ships.

“I could live here,” He said with a dreamy sigh. “The ocean, the sand... Spirits, it’s beautiful.”

Chares chuckled again. “You know, I thought that too the first time we visited.” He leaned next to Ailuros on the railing. “Then the storm season came early.”

“Storm season?”

“Heavy rainfall, flooding, hurricanes.” He gestured out at the ocean. “The occasional tsunami. Parthia’s almost unrecognizable then with everything under a foot or more of water.”

“Spirits,” Ailuros’ mandibles fluttered.

Chares gave another nod. “That’s why everything’s built like it is, to let the water just pass through. So thankfully there’s not a lot of loss of life during that season. There’s even a law that calls all the ships back inland before it hits. And the bridges are closed so no one gets swept away.”

Ailuros ran his hand back and forth over the smooth railing. “I could still live here.” He said with a little flick of his mandibles.

The other pilot patted him on the shoulder as he pushed away from the railing with a warm laugh. “Yeah. Would still be nice. Even if you can’t swim.”


	15. Day 15: Crystal

Council Space, The Citadel: 2225

Ailuros turned the crystal over and over between his palms. It was a perfect sphere, smoothly carved and pale blue. It both reminded him of the ocean and biotic emissions. His cybernetic eye helpfully informed him of its chemical composition and the identity of the artist as well as the price. It was a little too much for a graduation gift, even for its beauty and skill. And it wasn’t practical. Elysia liked things that actually had a use to them. Spirits, he was in completely the wrong shop for that... He sighed and perused another shelf.

Hesiod milled about beside him, picked up the crystal and whistled at the price tag. “Spirits,” He muttered and put it back down on the pedestal. 

“I know,” Ailuros hummed. Still, his eyes kept wandering back to it. Elysia would love it, it so closely resembled her biotics, only frozen in time. And she would appreciate the skill of the artist even if it had no other use than to look nice. “She’d love it.”

“Get it then.” His fellow pilot said with a shrug, picking up another carved crystal, this one looking like a long and deadly talon. He tapped the point and then examined the end of his finger before putting it back down.

“It’s more than I have with me.” He confessed quietly. “Maybe if we’d come by before lunch, I-”

“I can cover half of it.” Hesiod said easily.

Ailuros blinked at him with his mandibles fluttering. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

The other pilot flashed him that big easy smile he was known for. “You’re family,” He winked. “That means she’s my sister too and graduation is a big deal.”

His mandibles fluttered again. He and Hesiod had flown together for the Talonstriker for almost a decade now, but every time the other pilot threw out the word _family_ , it still took him by surprise.That wasn’t to say he didn’t consider the other pilot as close as family, especially when he considered a few _things_ , it was just one of those things that was silently understood and not spoken about. And with Hesiod, the word had the potential to mean so much more than the obvious.

Ailuros ran a hand over his fringe and down his face with a long sigh. He didn’t _like_ to borrow money. “Okay,” He said at length. “But you have to let me pay you back. Or feed you or something.”

Hesiod shrugged like it didn’t really matter to him one way or the other. “I can do that.” He said. “If you tell your dads you’re bringing your special friend home this time.”

His mandibles fluttered wildly again. “I haven’t told them-”

The other pilot threw an arm across his shoulders and dunked down to brush their mandibles together lightly. “Yeah, I know. But you’re going to. _We’re_ going to.”

Color flamed up his neck and his cybernetic eye helpfully told him Hesiod’s rising body temperature like he couldn’t already guess. “Okay.” He relented and bopped his foreplate to Hesiod’s shoulder with a nervous little smile.

“Good boy.”


	16. Day 16: Decay

The Primarch’s Estate, Palaven: 2250

The twins were inconsolable. Cicero hiding inside the hood of his sweater with the strings pulled tight and Marcian crying openly. It had taken Ignatius’ unerring patience to get anything out of the boys as to a reason why. Finally after what seemed hours of trying to calm the boys and coax out words, he and Elysia were searching the perimeter of the garden for the dead thing. 

Cicero, his little voice muffled by the hood, had surprisingly given them the most to go on. They were to look between the purple and blue flowers beneath the silver tree with the branches that reached all the way past the garden wall. Beside the little pile of sticks for the pyre, Cicero told them they would find the body. And so they did.

Elysia made a soft sound in the back of her throat that Ignatius returned half-heartedly. Clearly the sight of the dead bird with maggots writhing at its entrails didn’t effect him the same way. She sent him a sideways look and pulled her gloves from her pocket. A weak biotic pulse took care of the maggots and then she picked up the tiny body with utmost care, folding in the wings and straightening the head.

“Fix that little pyre for me,” Elysia told the guard.

“It’s only a bird.” He said with something like disinterest in his tones.

“It is.” She shrugged lightly. “But the boys already built it. It should be used.” 

Ignatius sighed harshly through his nose but he did bend down and rebuild the pyre, digging a little divot in the dirt beneath it.

Elysia placed the bird atop it. “Now call the boys back here.” 

“Virim.” He said sternly, those pale blue eyes of his almost icy.

“They’d have done it themselves if the bugs hadn’t scared them.” She pointed out. “They understand what needs to be done.”

“They’re barely four.” The guard said tightly.

Elysia thinned her mandibles at him. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand his position and even agree with him, it was that it was an important lesson the boys needed to learn. “Ask the Primarch then,” She said coolly. “If you’d rather not make the decision yourself.”

Oh the look Ignatius gave her for that was almost murderous... but he did step aside and call the boys’ grandfather. After explaining the situation for a moment or two, he hung up with a growled curse. Elysia hid a tight smile, she’d known the Primarch would agree. Another few moments passed and Ignatius returned with the boys, carrying both of them in his arms. They had already truly calmed and Elysia met their depthless eyes, saw the curiosity and determination there. Even so young, she could see they understood. Ignatius knelt with them in his arms, Marcian clinging to him more than Cicero. Elysia reached a hand out to him and the smaller of the twins wiggled out of Ignatius’ arms to come to her.

“It’s okay,” She said softly to the both of them, taking Cicero’s little hand in hers.

“It’s dead.” The little boy squeaked, his mandibles quivering, and she heard Marcian whine.

“It is dead.” Elysia inclined her head. “Either it fell from the tree or flew into it. How doesn’t matter. ...You built the first pyre?”

Cicero nodded and reached up with one hand to wipe his eyes. “Like with daddy. We helped with the sticks.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ignatius’ drawl Marcian even tighter when the boy whined.

“Do you know why we build pyres for the dead?” Elysia asked, still holding his hand, now with both of hers. She was trying to keep her tones gentle even with the hard look Ignatius was giving her. He didn’t approve, that much was clear.

“Momma says so the Spirit can go home.”

“So the Spirit can go home,” She nodded. “All things have Spirits and it’s important, at the end, that it gets to go home. Do you want to help me light it?”

She watched Cicero think about the question a moment, glancing at his brother and Ignatius in turns and then back to her. He nodded slowly. 


	17. Day 17: Quest

Primarch’s Mountain Estate, Palaven: 2251

“The twins have really come out of their shells since you came here.” Igni said quietly into the dark of the room.

It was entirely inappropriate to be in bed with her superior like this, even with their somewhat casual arrangement. It had only happened a few times in the last several months and she didn’t foresee it being any kind of a problem. Igni was a much warmer person than initial impression had shown and once he’d accepted the fact that she wasn’t a threat in disguise, Elysia had gotten to see the real him beneath the stern expressions.

“They’re just getting older.” Elysia replied against the skin of his throat.

“They are.” He murmured. “I remember when I could hold each of them in my palms.”

“You almost still can.”

Igni chuckled lowly. “Almost,” He agreed and his palm took up the whole of her back as he laid it there to rest. “...Do you think they enjoyed their birthday party?”

“They loved it,” Elysia smiled. “What kid doesn’t love a giant game of quest and camouflage for their presents?”

In truth, Cicero and Marcian had been absolutely ecstatic just for the trip to the mountain estate. She still remembered the delighted shrieks when they’d been let out of the car, how they’d darted off with wild laughter when the game had been explained. The Primarch and their mother hadn’t made the game too hard of course, but it had been a challenge for the now five-year-old boys. And Elysia had personally really enjoyed helping them search all over the grounds for their presents, she was sure everyone had enjoyed it.

“It was good to see Marcilinaes smile again, too.” Igni continued. “She loves her children, truly, but I think they remind her too much of their father.”

Elysia peeked up at him. “Did you know him well?” The twins’ father was rarely mentioned and for a time she’d thought that it was Igni with the way he seemed to consider himself their father figure. But of course that wasn’t the case. Igni was simply good at handling the twins’ needs.

He smoothed his hand across her back again. “Not well, no.” He said. “He was kind and well-spoken, I remember he’d only served one tour before settling down on Parthia. Marcilinaes met him at a party and they hit it off, you know how that is. ...He died about three years ago in an accident at one of the eezo plants. She was devastated, obviously, and the boys were too young to understand.”

Elysia rested atop him, tracing patterns with her fingers over his chest. “My dad lost both his parents in the Relay 314 Incident.” She shared, feeling a little like she had to. “If Pa passes before him, I know he’ll follow, he thinks you shouldn’t be without your mate.”

“I can’t imagine loving someone that much.” Igni muttered.

“Their Spirits are one.” Elysia excused because she couldn’t imagine it for herself either. “Neither of them are active anymore. It’ll be a long time.”

He hummed quietly and kept stroking along her spine. “You ever think about mating and having children?”

She lifted off his chest a little and stared down in his pale eyes. “That had better not be a veiled confession of love.”

“It’s not,” Igni said easily, giving her a droll sort of smile. “Also, way to shoot a man down, Spirits.”

“Way to stop my heart for a second there, Spirits.” Elysia shot back with a laugh and settled across him again. She liked how he smelled in these moments. “If I were to ever mate, I’d want what my parents have and it’s... so rare, I just don’t see it happening for me. And kids? I don’t know. I like helping to take care of the twins, but kids of my own?”

Igni nodded his head and stretched a little beneath her. “It’s no secret I treat the twins as if they were mine-”

“It’s really not.”

“-but I don’t think I want my own.” He said on a sigh. “I think, for me, taking care of them for however long the Primarch allows me to, is enough. It satisfies that need.” Igni pitched them both to the side and tangled their limbs together. “Of course, I suppose I could meet someone special and all that could change.”

Elysia shared a grin with him. “Still not accepting confessions of love.” She teased.

“Still not making one.” 


	18. Day 18: Loyalty

In Low Orbit Defense of the Talonstriker: 2223

Ailuros felt the strike to his ship through the neural link. He didn’t _feel_ the hit as much as he felt the reverb of energy more like a shove than a punch. It still stopped his breath for a second and kicked his heart to racing. He twisted in the harness and _Megathirio_ twisted around with him. He felt the ship roar and rounds erupted from the guns with his direction. The gauge blared a warning for overheat and he released the trigger so it could cool off, falling back with another shift of his body-weight in the harness.

To his left and right, his trio’s ships took his place, firing too. And by the time his weapons had cooled, their’s had overheated and he dove in again. Over and over, Ailuros traded places with Chares and Hesiod with other pilots from the Talonstriker covering. But for every enemy fighter they shot down, another rose to take up the attack. Ailuros didn’t know who they were battling, he didn’t even recognize the design of the ships but he knew they weren’t going to surrender and the only option was to annihilate them all. 

He was sweating in the flight-suit, his rapid breath fogging up the visor of his HUD for moments at a time and he’d be blind were it not for the dual input of his cybernetic eye. He couldn’t imagine the others were doing any better and as trio leader, he needed to think of them. They were going to be overwhelmed if they kept this same pace much longer. He opened all comms channels on his end.

“Virim to Talonstriker.”

“Go ahead.”

“Trio 19 needs to regroup. We’re overheatin’ too quickly.”

“Fall back Trio 19. Trio 15, take their place.” The Talonstriker ordered.

Ailuros leaned in his harness and _Megathirio_ dropped from the lead position. He saw Chares and Hesiod do the same from the corner of each eye and Trio 15 sweep in above them. Then a bright flash of light.

“By the Spirits!”

“Hesiod?!” He barked.

“I’m hit! Systems are failing left and right! I can’t eject!”

Ailuros felt his heart freeze and it was muscle memory that moved his ship between Hesiod’s and enemy fire. “I’ll cover your descent! Just get to ground!”

Hesiod growled some reply in his ear and Chares snarled vulgarity as he covered the both of them. _Megathirio’s_ ammo gauge overheated and Ailuros felt it radiate up his arms. He let go and dove toward the ground, following the trail of destruction and ship debris.

“Hesiod!” He snapped in the comm link as he wildly scanned the ground. “Hesiod!”

“...Beacon’s activated.” Came the weak voice. “Feedback loop got me when I crashed.”

Ailuros’ cybernetic eye picked up the beacon easily and he steered his ship in that direction. “How hurt are you?” He demanded.

“Flight-suit hit me with the good stuff so I don’t know yet.”

That wasn’t necessarily a good thing, he knew from experience, and Ailuros thinned his mandibles against his jaw as he set his ship down next to Hesiod’s. A wing had been torn clean off in the crash and the body of it was beat all to hell and still smoking. He couldn’t see Hesiod through the shattered opening of the cockpit and he should have been able to. Ailuros scrambled out of his harness, the neural link dragging out of the port at the base of his skull and he felt his own momentary brush with the feedback loop. He fell hard to the ground and finally spotted Hesiod. The other turian was propped against an outcropping of rocks, part of his destroyed ship hiding his legs and part of the growing pool of blood beneath him.

“Hesiod...” Ailuros breathed and set his cybernetic eye to scan before he moved anything.

“That bad, huh?”

His mandibles pulled in tighter as the information from the scan rolled in. “Virim to Talonstriker! I need med evac at my location now! Chares! Keep us covered!” He gripped the ship debris and dug his talons in. “I’ve gotta move you. There’s fuel leakin’.”

Hesiod nodded his head once and pushed from the other side. Together they got it off and away but not without a lot of effort.

“Talonstriker to Virim. Med evac inbound. ETA six minutes.”

“Understood.” Ailuros rushed around to Hesiod’s other, uninjured side and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Here’s your chance to call me names cuz this is gonna hurt.” He didn’t give the other pilot time to respond though, pulling him in a hurry away from the wreckage and toward _Megathirio,_ trying not to let the cry of agony get to him. 

“Sonofavarrenfucking-!”

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you...” Ailuros fell back against the body of his ship with his arms tight around Hesiod’s shoulders. A kinetic barrier enveloped them both and finally he felt like he could breathe again. 


	19. Day 19: Rush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheated and wrote this one last night because I'm scheduled into work at 5:45 am and knew I was gonna be mostly dead by the time I get out of work and home by 3pm.

Aboard the Talonstriker: 2223

Six minutes passed like six years and Ailuros was still clutched around Hesiod’s shoulders when the med evac arrived with an escort from the carrier. The unit had had to pry his hands loose when he’d realized Hesiod had fainted. He didn’t know why he hadn’t been able to let go under his own power, the other pilot was safe, he could relax. Only he couldn’t and how he made it back to the Talonstriker without issue was a mystery.

Ailuros lowered himself down from _Megathirio_ in the hangar and came face to face with Chares and the Captain. His mandibles drew in, neither his trio-mate or the Captain were pleased with his actions. The whole point of falling back in a battle was to avoid further damage and he’d chased after a downed ship without permission amidst heavy enemy fire.

“With all due respect Captain, if I hadn’t gone after Hesiod, there’s every chance he’d have bled out before the med team got to him or that the leakin’ fuel would have ignited.” He said hotly, unable to stop himself glaring at the Captain and Chares who agreed but only in principle. He’d never lost a teammate before and the possibility made him angry. “I did the right thing.”

Ailuros stomped away as the Captain started in about the given and even expected dangers of the job. He didn’t want to hear it. “Write me up!” He snapped over his shoulder as he headed for the medbay, feeling a ball of dread form in his stomach. As angry as he was, he knew it was inappropriate behavior that would come back to bite him. He just hoped his dads didn’t hear about it, too.

In the medbay, they’d already patched Hesiod back together and he was resting in one of the beds, a bag of blood hanging from a pole next to him. He looked somehow older and tired even while asleep. Ailuros dragged over a chair and settled in to wait. 

...

When Hesiod opened his eyes again, he could honestly say he was surprised to see himself back aboard the Talonstriker and safe in the medbay no less. He hadn’t been so shaken about after the crash to not know how bad it had been. He’d been thrown from the cockpit at impact for Spirits’ sake and a person didn’t usually survive something like that. Hesiod knew he’d been lucky enough to survive the initial ejection and luckier still that Ailuros had gotten to him so quickly.

Spirits, he was a good kid. Not that he was a kid anymore, he’d been with the Talonstriker since he was sixteen and that was eight years ago now. Yeah, not a kid anymore... Hesiod shifted in the bed and spotted the pilot always mired in his thoughts slumped in a chair, asleep. His mandibles fluttered with a surge of emotion. Was it duty that had brought Ailuros down to wait for his recovery or something more? And on the tails of that thought was the wonder if it was okay to hope it was something more. Eight years ago, he’d been Ailuros’ age now and maybe that was too old.... He rubbed his eyes with the hand not connected to a pole by a wire. 

He’d never said anything to Ailuros before, not along those lines at least and he was reasonably sure he’d never even flirted with the boy even though he’d wanted to. Ailuros was _really_ good looking for one thing with his pale gunmetal-gray plating and Palavenian markings, and while the misty blue of his eyes didn’t quite match anymore they were still striking. Hell, even the scarring down the side of his face from that injury looked good, had healed well and he was built all lean but strong. But it was his personality more than all his physical traits that had drawn Hesiod in.

The boy was steadfast and loyal, a damned good pilot, focused and goal oriented but with a playful streak that encouraged everyone around him to have fun. Most Palavenian’s that Hesiod had met in his life had been way more straight-laced and traditional and sure that wasn’t bad or anything, but that Ailuros wasn’t like that too had been refreshing. Hesiod liked him a lot, felt a lot of affection for him that went deeper than just being trio-mates. 

And maybe his very close brush with death a few hours earlier had made him not care all that much if he was too old for Ailuros.

He reached his free hand out and just barely managed to poke at the other pilot’s knee with the tip of his finger. “Hey, Alie,” A firmer nudge when that gave him nothing. “Alie.”

Ailuros opened his eyes and stretched. “Hey, how you feelin’?”

Hesiod flicked him a little smile. “Pretty good, all things considered.”

“That’s great. I was worried.” 

His mandibles flicked a little again. Ailuros worrying about him was a good feeling. “Yeah?”

The chair legs scraped on the floor as he pulled it closer. “Just wait ‘til you see the scrap that used to be your ship.” He said somewhat dryly. “If I hadn’t got to you...”

“You did though,” Hesiod figured it was the pain medication that made him bold enough to lay his hand over Ailuros’ on the bed. “You uh, saved me.”

“O’course I did.” Ailuros smiled at him, a spread of his mandibles that made his organic eye bright. “I couldn’t just leave you. I’d do the same for any of us.”

Hesiod knew there was every chance it was an expression of that turian sense of duty, but he hoped it wasn’t just that. And the pain medication _had_ made him bold. “Would you do me a favor, Alie?”

“Yeah, what do you need? Want some water or something?”

He chuckled and squeezed Ailuros’ hand a little awkwardly. “Actually... I wanna take you on a date. When I get outta here, I mean.” 

If he’d thought the last smile had made those eyes brighten, it didn’t compare to the next one. 


	20. Day 20: Killer

In Service to the Primarch, Colony of Parthia: 2248

Few things could truly be called a necessary evil and unfortunate circumstances often pushed good people to do bad things. Or to find less good people to do bad things for them. Ignatius didn’t think this was one such situation and neither, it seemed, did the Primarch. They had discussed the needed action at length, the Primarch, obviously couldn’t get his hands so dirty as to do what needed to be done. And Marcilinaes didn’t need to suffer a public trial with her children still so young. This was better. The inevitability of extra causalities was regrettable but unavoidable in the long run. An _accidental_ death would be better than an execution. The Primarch had voiced his order and his approval, and Ignatius was happy to carry out the command.

It was a simple matter to convince Actus to show him around the newly built but active refinery, the fool was so proud of his hand in matters greater than himself that he wasn’t the least bit suspicious. Ignatius followed a few steps behind him through the tour, distracting him here and there at random as he sabotaged small components, nothing that would draw attention too quickly but systems that would slowly collapse and fail one by one until there was no stopping the final result. After than, it was even simpler to trap Actus in the hall that held the main reactor. To explain through the blast door just why he was going to die the way he was and who had ordered it. That he never should have dared to strike a grandchild of the Primarch.

When the warnings of the catastrophic failure began to sound, Ignatius of course called for the needed evacuation for the rest of the refinery’s personnel while making sure the blast door couldn’t be opened. Not that it would matter, when the massive eezo core finally went up, he knew it would take the island with it. 


	21. Day 21: Expertise

In Service of the Primarch, Cipritine, Palaven: 2250

“I’m... not completely onboard with this.” Ignatius said at length as he peaked over the Primarch’s shoulder at the dossiers on the desk. Both listed an agent of the disbanded Cabal handpicked by the Council to enter the Primarch’s service. 

“It’s already been decided. I must only choose who fits the position best.” There was annoyance in Vesimir’s tones but they’d already had this conversation a number of times. “Don’t tell me you take issue with biotics?” 

“No, Sir, Of course not.” He replied readily. Like most turians, biotics made him uncomfortable, uneasy. The Cabals weren’t what they had been hundreds of years ago, its members were no longer used for clandestine strikes and assassinations of political and militant figures, of Primarchs. They were specialized units not too dissimilar from the Blackwatch in function. But old prejudices ran deeply and despite efforts to remove that old assumption of misdeeds and secrecy, Ignatius felt it nagging at his mind all the same. Gut instinct told him a Cabal agent in the service of the Primarch was a potential disaster in the making. 

In the decade since the abolition of the Cabals, the Council had been pushing for a turian representative in the Capital. Of course, the former Primarch had resisted and when he’d joined the Spirits, the task had been left to Vesimir. In the three years since his placement, he had been gathering dossiers and carefully picking the right candidates with the help of Council recommendations. With Ignatius’ help and some very careful screening, they had it down to two possibilities. 

Ignatius read the first dossier again. Norel Vandrix was a turian in his seventies, not too old for the position and not much older than Ignatius himself... But he was clearly too set in his ways, had manifested as a biotic late in life and had not taken the demotion to Cabal all that well. There were a lot of commendations in his file from before manifestation but not many after. It seemed, after Norel had become biotic, that he’d simply put his head down and trudged on. Placement in the Primarch’s service would be an honor but it wouldn’t make up for the earlier insult of being ripped from the 34th Legion and his homeworld of Bostra for a Cabal on the shit colony of Digeris.

“Not him,” He told the Primarch and turned the datapad screen down. “His prior service record is impressive until he was Cabal and then it’s business as usual. A few accomplishments here and there. He’d see a position with you as a platitude when there’s not need for one. He wouldn’t be loyal.”

The Primarch inclined his head, he’d likely come to the same conclusion. “What of the other?” There was something of a smile to his tones

Ignatius pulled the second dossier closer and leaned on the desk to read. Elysia Virim had just turned forty and her surname was familiar but he couldn’t place it right this moment. She had manifested as biotic very young in her childhood and had been trained by a few notable experts until she’d attended regular bootcamp and then entered the Cabals at sixteen. Her dossier was absolutely littered with commendations and praise: team player, cool under pressure, willing to take risks to achieve mission status. She’d never lost a single solder under her command and had more than once negotiated for peace over bloodshed with success.

He put the datapad down and pinned the Primarch with a firm look. “You’ve already picked her.” He said.

“Her file reads like yours.” Vesimir said with a teasing flick of his mandibles. “I believe she’ll be a good fit. More than that, I think she’ll feel compelled to succeed. After all, this all happened because of her.”

Ignatius tilted his head in mild confusion and then, slowly, it clicked for him and he laughed. “Kabalim Septimus Virim. Spirits.”

The Primarch smiled warmly. “The things we do for our children so they can accomplish more than we ever dared to dream.”


	22. Day 22: Dark

Colony of Parthia: 2228

“How often do you think the power goes out on other civilized worlds?” Ailuros grumbled over his shoulder, head down and angled to see into the cavity of the generator. It was utterly dark outside and even with the night-time setting of his cybernetic eye, he couldn’t see what he was doing.

“Probably not as often as it does here.” Hesiod said dryly, trying to shine his omnitool where Ailuros could see.

He snorted and sat back on his haunches, hands in his lap. “This is gonna need to wait ‘til the mornin’ when I’ve got more light.” He sighed. “Then I reckon I’ll drain out the gas and flip it on its side so I can really see what I’m doin’.” 

“You reckon, huh?” Hesiod flicked him a teasing mandible.

Ailuros’ mandibles shifted. “I thought you liked the way I talk?”

The other man smiled and stepped closer to him. “I do, I do.” He insisted. “It’s just... hearing your dad’s words come out of your mouth in the homeworld accent is funny.”

He dunked his head a little, mandibles fluttering. “I thought you liked my dad, too.” He finally mumbled.

Hesiod reached to draw him to his feet and then into his arms at that look. “I do. I like _you_ a little more but your dad’s pretty cool. Your pa, too. Now your sister, she scares the hell outta me.”

Ailuros looped his arms around Hesiod’s waist and just leaned on him. He didn’t know where the flashes of insecurity came from -his family had never given him any reason to doubt they loved him or his value in any way- but he wished they’d stop. Hesiod had never given him reason to think he wouldn’t stick around. He nuzzled and sighed in content. “My sister’s harmless.”

The other turian started guiding him by omnitool light up the short path back to the house, specifically the back porch where they’d been lounging before the power had gone out. “I heartily disagree. You don’t get to be one of the youngest Cabal Captains if you’re harmless.”

He linked his fingers with Hesiod’s. “Okay, she’s not _harmless_ but she thinks you’re funny so nothin’ to worry ‘bout.”

“Works for me, I guess.” Hesiod found one the chairs and pulled Ailuros down into his lap, guiding his head to his shoulder. 

He couldn’t help but snuggle close, taking in his lover’s scent off his throat. He had that feeling again, that insidious little feeling that the older, more mature pilot was just humoring him in their relationship. Ailuros wasn’t that much younger, not really, but he was vastly less experienced in the nuances and overtures of having a lover. Even with being together for a few years now, with taking Hesiod to meet his family and meeting his in return. A part of him would sometimes whisper that this wouldn’t last and all of him struggled not to listen because a different part of Ailuros’ Spirit insisted that Hesiod was the real deal and he wanted that to be so.

“I can feel you thinking.” Hesiod poked his side with a talon-tip.

Ailuros squirmed away from it, catching his hand and trapping it with his own. “I’m just...” What? He didn’t know what to say. Sometimes it felt as if the other pilot completely knew his mind anyway.

Hesiod stroked a hand over his fringe, softly tracing each spine in turn. “You know I never get tired of looking at the stars.”

“What?” He fluttered his mandibles in confusion, it wasn’t the statement he’d expected.

“The stars, boy.” Hesiod caught his chin gently and tilted his head back. “Everywhere I go, I try to learn the constellations, their stories. See those two there?” He pointed with his free hand.

“Um...” Ailuros blinked up at the sky, his cybernetic eye calculating distances, latitudes and longitudes. Parthia had _a lot_ of perfectly visible stars. Lack of light pollution, he guessed but wasn’t sure. 

The gentle strokes over his fringe continued. “The story goes that the left most star was a Titan that fell in battle, his Spirit keeping an eye on the one he loved from the heavens, unwilling to be truly parted from his mate. He waited a hundred years and one day, on the eve of a terrible storm, his patience was rewarded and his mate finally joined him and now they watch over Parthia together.”

Ailuros fluttered his mandibles wildly for a moment and he wiggled his chin free of Hesiod’s fingers to hide his face in his chest. He mumbled.

“What was that?” The other pilot teased gently.

“I love you, too.” 


	23. Day 23: Wait

Location Unknown. Date Unknown.

The first thing Ailuros is aware of is darkness so absolute his cybernetic eye can’t make out anything. Like being in the middle of a void but even in space, there’s an impression of light from distance stars and far off galaxies, stations and waypoints. But this isn’t space, it’s much too large. The second thing he notices is the thick and endless silence. When he screams, there’s no sound to match the resonance he can feel in his chest. Like space but that comparison doesn’t feel right. He doesn’t know where he is.

No sound, no light... Ailuros can’t help but come to the conclusion that he’s dead, his Spirit trapped. The panic is icy and all consuming but his screams don’t even reach his own ears. He doesn’t know what happened but... But there’s another feeling now. A sense that he isn’t alone. Near him, all around him, something is there.

Something is there.

The first sound is a cacophony of noise. It’s only a buzzing sort of hum but after eons in the silent void, it’s ear-shattering. Ailuros can hear his own voice again, small and childlike and afraid.

“Who’s there?”

A sudden weight on his shoulders, on his Spirit, forces him to his knees and Ailuros stares wildly into the abyss.

“Who’s there!”

_When you spoke my name the first time, I wondered how you knew it. Names, turian, have power. At first, I was angry. Do you remember? You knew I was there. Others have known, before you, and others will know after you._

There is a sense of a shape in the darkness. Something unknown and yet familiar. Metal and angular. Controlled by his will, by how he moves his body in the harness. But it’s so much larger than that. Formless. Infinite. Ancient. Ailuros sees the Spirit for what it is, for what he’s known it to be since the first connection. He’s always known there was more than what he was told. He had sensed it and seen it in glimpses. 

“Megathirio.” 

An old word: Leviathan. Ailuros hadn’t realized how right he was before now. Now, when he can see it for what it is.

Colony of Parthia: 2229

Hesiod had forgotten how hard it was to come off the Hierarchy’s special drug that let pilots like he used to be interface with their ships. Addictive in the sense that one needed it to fly, to connect to the ship, and by the Spirits do your best not to miss a dose until you were being weaned clean. Pilots in the past had died because of circumstances that caused them to miss one of the bimonthly shots. Hesiod himself had cut that gap close once. Just the once. It wasn’t a lesson he’d needed to learn twice.

He wished now that he’d managed to talk Ailuros into staying on the Talonstriker until his system was clean. The docs knew what to do. A regular doctor on a regular colony? They’d have no idea. The concoction was a trade secret. And Ailuros was not detoxing cleanly. Were it not for the ragged way his chest rose and fell, Hesiod would already think him dead. He squeezed his lover’s hand in his own, held it against his mouth. Ailuros would make it, he knew, it was just a long process. One he didn’t envy, he remembered exactly what it was like. 

...

Ailuros woke with a scream trapped in a throat too tight to make actual noise. He woke with all his limbs shaking and his control of them sporadic, fingers clenching and opening at random. Hesiod was there, leaning over him, mandibles tilted in worry. Somehow Ailuros managed to grasp him, to pull him desperately close and tight.

“I saw-” His words were choppy and again, he heard his own voice like that of a petrified child. “-I saw it. I saw it, Hesiod.”

The other turian grabbed his hands and held them still, held all of him still as their eyes locked. “Saw what, Alie?”

Ailuros didn’t dare to say the name. “The ship. I saw... It’s alive. Truly alive. I saw it.”

Hesiod’s mandibles snapped in tight to his jaw. 


	24. Day 24: Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters for the price of one! I'll be busy with the kids tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Mountain Estate of the Primarch, Palaven: 2258

“Cicero!” Elysia yelled with her hands cupped around her mouth to extend the sound. To her left and right, the Primarch and Igni’s voices joined hers.

“ ‘Ro!” Echoed from some distance behind her.

A number of voices picked up the call in the forest around her. Nearly all of the Primarch’s staff and assembled guards but for the voice of his daughter, Marcilinaes. Elysia didn’t hear her calling for her son at all. She apparently hadn’t joined the search.

“ ‘Ro!” Marcian’s voice cracked with emotion and he was suddenly at her side. His mandibles hung loose. “Why won’t he answer us?”

There were all kinds of dangers in the forest that could befall an unprepared boy. Elysia didn’t want to tell him Cicero might be hurt, even if she was starting to suspect that herself. The boys were so mature and responsible and this wasn’t like Cicero at all. “He must be deep in the woods where he can’t hear us.”

“He... he must be.” Marcian nodded but the way his head tilted... he knew something he wasn’t saying.

“Marcian, do you have _any_ idea where he could be hiding or why?”

“I don’t.” The boy said just a tad too quickly.

Elysia thinned her mandibles against her jaw, more concerned now than she had been. “Get with your grandfather to look and keep trying to call your brother’s omnitool.” She put her hand on his shoulder and he flinched harshly away from her. Elysia’s mandibles snapped in tightly. “It’s okay. Go on now.”

Something was very wrong here. 

She raised a hand to her earpiece. “Igni, meet me ahead in twenty yards without the Primarch.”

“On my way to you now.”

His longer stride got him there faster and he waited against the silver trunk of a giant tree. Elysia stepped into his personal sphere and gestured him to lean down.

“Marcian’s hiding something.” She murmured. “I think he knows where Cicero has gone.”

Igni looked over at the boy across her shoulders. “It’s certainly possible. I’ll-”

She caught his arm as he started to move past her. “He jumped like a pyjack when I touched him, Igni.” Their eyes met and held a moment. “He’s hiding something big.”

“Marcian wouldn’t hurt his brother.” Igni said firmly, his mandibles flaring outward for a second.

“I’m not suggesting he would, I know he wouldn’t.” Elysia heaved a sigh. “But Igni, could someone have hurt them and that’s why Cicero’s disappeared and Marcian’s covering?”

His expression darkened minutely. “We’re always with them and no one would dare.”

“We’re not always with them,” She pointed out quietly. “But they are always with each other.”

“Right this moment,” Igni held up a hand. “The why doesn’t matter. Let’s just find him before it gets dark.”

Elysia inclined her head and left him standing there at the tree. 


	25. Day 25: Rage

Mountain Estate of the Primarch, Palaven: 2258

Too many hours later, when her voice was hoarse from calling the boy’s name, she found him. Filthy and sobbing miserably, he was huddled beneath a tarp strung up between two trees.

“Cicero!” Elysia rushed toward him. “Thank the Spirits!”

Cicero jerked his head toward the sound of her voice and scrambled back further beneath the tarp, his eyes wide. “Miss ‘Lysia?”

On her knees and reaching toward him, backing up was not the reaction she’d expected. Elysia stopped moving and they stared at each other. His face, tear streaked with the electric purple of Parthia was more than just filthy. It was bruised and puffy along the cheek and eye bones, his mandible on that side hanging limp and dislocated if she had to guess. Elysia didn’t want to guess. She wanted to know who had done it. Biotics crackled along her arms.

“Who hit you?” She demanded more harshly than she meant to but he was only a child.

Cicero drew in on himself at the tones, or at the sudden flare of blue. “No one hit me.” His voice quaked and he couldn’t meet her eyes.

“ ‘Ro,” Elysia forced her voice into a gentler register for his sake. Someone at the estate had hurt him and he’d run, that was clear now. “You can tell me. You know I’d do anything to protect you and your brother.”

“Is... is my brother okay?”

“He’s looking for you with your grandfather and Igni.” She told the boy, scooting carefully closer on her knees, not wanting to spook him.

“My... my mom?”

Elysia studied him, the way his tones quivered and he reached to touch his face like he didn’t know he was doing it. How his eyes grew suddenly wetter. “She’s waiting at the estate in case you came back there.”

“I’m _not_ going back there.”

Her mandibles flared. “Did one of the staff-?”

“No.” He shook his head firmly. “No one did it. I fell.”

“You didn’t fall.” Elysia angled her head to meet his deep, dark eyes. “ ‘Ro... I’m neither blind nor stupid.”

The boy scrubbed his hands over his fringe and face, whimpering when he brushed by his mandible. “I... I just... I just shoved him. We were just playing, Miss ‘Lysia but... but she thought...” He keened and put his head down on his knees. “I’d never hurt my brother. I love my brother.”

Her mandibles screwed up tight to her jaw and she ran through every female staff member in her head. No one stood out. “I know you’d never hurt your brother,” She said, reaching for him. “ ‘Ro, tell me who did this so I can tell your grandfather, please. You can’t hide this, you shouldn’t hide this.”

The boy started sobbing again, wrapped tight around his own knees and Elysia reached to comfort him again but sounds behind her stopped her. Igni had found them, his mandibles firm along his jaw and his eyes narrowed. He’d overheard, she could tell just by looking at him, and he was furious. 

“You know.” She threw the accusation at him, her teeth bared and biotics crackling along her limbs again. “You knew.”

He didn’t say anything, striding closer to the both of them.

Cicero sniffed and cleared his throat. “Igni stopped her last time. He made her promise she’d never try to again.” The boy keened. “I’m sorry she lied, Igni. I’m sorry I made her-”

“You didn’t make her.” Igni growled low and Elysia found herself standing between both of them on instinct alone. When the Sentinel sounded like that, blood spilled.

“Igni.” Biotics rose to the surface of her palms.

“His _mother_.” The giant Palavenian spat on the ground. “Spirits damn her.” 


	26. Day 26: Siege

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still cotton-brained from all the Christmas things and not enough sleep. Nice, short fluffy fic today

Colony of Parthia: 2225

“This is dumb,” Ailuros murmured, half asleep stretched out on the couch with Hesiod cuddling him from behind.

“It’s a cartoon, love. Most of them are dumb.” His lover chuckled, nuzzling his chin down on top of his fringe.

Ailuros was struggling to keep his eyes open, exhausted from a day of traveling all over the islands to see the sights and back again. Finally home, he’d curled up on the couch and turned the vid-screen to a random station. It happened to be a cartoon he’d recognized from growing up. Something about turian soldiers and magic talking varren that he couldn’t remember the nuances of now but he remembered liking it a lot when he was a kid. Of course, when he was a kid, he hadn’t known as much about proper warfare tactics as he knew now and... Yeah, where even were there castles to siege anymore?

Hesiod chuckled at something on the screen and he blinked his eyes open again.

“What’d I miss?” He slurred.

“The little varren pup figuring out he’s magic like the others.” Hesiod told him dryly. “Magic to make the gates open. Why didn’t the other varren just do that?”

“Don’t they all have different magic?” Ailuros yawned.

He snorted. “Seems like a plot hole to me.” 

He smiled and patted Hesiod’s arm around him. “Bein’ a lil’ over critical of a cartoon, aren’t you?”

Hesiod kissed the top of his fringe. “I happen to like cartoons, thank you very much.”

“Mhm.” Ailuros hummed and settled back against him.


	27. Day 27: Tower

Colony of Parthia: 2224

Ailuros flicked his mandibles teasingly, leaning against the glass wall of the elevator with his arms crossed over his chest. “You doin’ alright?”

Elysia shook her head, groaned and shuddered beside him. “Oh, no. Spirits.”

“Nauseous?” He tried not to smile. 

“Me and elevators don’t mix.” She shot through the hand she’d put over her mouth. He could hear her taking deep breaths. “And heights. Spirits, I’ll never understand how you can fly.”

“Space is different.” He said, she didn’t know the half of it. Trade secrets. Only pilots knew how it all worked. If he told his family while he was still active, he could be court-marshaled and Ailuros didn’t want that. He loved being on the Talonstriker.

“Okay,” She gulped and closed her eyes, breathing under control again. “Like shuttles and big ships, sure. That little thing you fly? I could _not_ do that.”

Ailuros chuckled nervously, his mandibles fluttering. “There’s nothin’ to it.” 

“Uhuh. Sure.” Elysia gulped again and leaned forward with her hands on her knees. “Ugh... We almost to the top?”

“We are.” He reached out a rubbed at her back a little. He’d known this part of the adventure wouldn’t be easy on her, she had some inner ear thing and elevators, boats and shuttles all made her sick and wobbly. “It’ll be worth it.”

“Spirits, it had better or I’ll tell dad you put me in an elevator just to make me throw up.”

Ailuros barked a short laugh and then outright giggled. “Oh, Spirits, you just reminded me of that trip to the theme park.” He said. “We should not have eaten before the tilt-o-whirl.”

Elysia made a sound in the back of her throat. “I don’t want to talk about that.”

He was still giggling. “Pa was so mad at dad.”

She started to laugh, too. “To be fair, dad got sick, too.”

“Yeah,” He got himself under control again, patting her shoulder as the elevator finally came to a stop. “Okay. Hard part’s done.”

“We still have to ride it back down.” Elysia grumbled, wobbling a little on her feet for just a second or two on her way out.

“It won’t be as bad.” Ailuros reassured, taking a guiding grip on her arm.

Before them, past another glassed in area, Parthia’s sun had hit its zenith. The ocean in all directions reflecting the orange and red light, shining like a scattering of gems. It was a view only visible from the top of what was once a massive lighthouse and now was simply a tourist location. It had been one of the first places Ailuros had come to when he’d bought his apartment here. The view was burned into his mind as one of the most beautiful he’d ever seen. Elysia, beside him, her mandibles flared in a genuine, joy-filled smile, likely agreed.

“Whatcha think?” He nudged her playfully with an elbow.

“I think it more than makes up for a trip in an elevator.” She drawled. 


	28. Day 28: Indulge

In Service of the Primarch, Cipritine, Palaven: 2258

Igni sank down into the hot water of the tub big enough to be a small pool with a long groan. His legs stretched out and his head back on the edge, careful of the ends of his fringe. The Primarch had had the thing installed the year he’d taken over, and while it was meant for therapy, it was mostly used like a regular pool. The twins came down and played in it sometimes and the Primarch often used it for its intended purpose to help with stiff joints. Igni liked to soak in it for a few hours every week, to just sit back in water almost up to his neck and let all his stress and tension float away on the steam. Sometimes he even turned the jets on if he was sore. It was a luxury and money well spent. And one he’d needed after the last few weeks.

“Enjoying yourself?”

He peaked through half-lidded eyes and saw Elysia standing at the edge with a towel loosely tied around her hips. He flicked her a small, cautious grin. “It’s not terrible,” He drawled. “I might find it more enjoyable if you joined me. Without the towel.”

The biotic huffed at him, but she did shimmy out of the towel and toss it aside. Igni eyed her, as familiar with her body as his own but still appreciative. When Elysia had settled in next to him with a satisfied groan of her own, he leaned his head back again. At least, it seemed, she wasn’t as mad at him as she had been.

“Did Vesimir order you to come relax too?” She asked after a few moments.

“No,” His mandibles flicked in a smile. “I do this once or twice a week. Of my own free will, too. I know how to relax.”

“He needs to learn it.” Elysia muttered sourly.

“He’ll relax when things are truly calm again.” Igni said and found her hand in the water with his own without opening his eyes. He just brushed their fingers together. A reminder that he was there for her as much as the twins and the Primarch. 

“When will that be?” Elysia’s fingers brushed his just as softly.

“I don’t know. It...” He sighed. “I don’t care about the details of it all, Elysia. I just care that Cicero and Marcian are safe and protected.”

She withdrew her hand. “Then you should have said something sooner.”

“I should have.” Igni let his hand remain. “Hubris. I was certain she would never do more than threaten, not after what happened to the last person to-” He snapped his mouth shut but could feel Elysia looking at him with those bright, perceptive orange eyes of hers. His fingers twitched, wanting to reach for hers. “I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

Damn him, but he liked that little growl in her voice. “That I said nothing, that I’ve still said nothing of my suspicions to Vesimir. That a decade ago, I may have killed an innocent man thanks to a well-crafted lie.”

Elysia shifted to face him. “I think I need you to provide some details of your own.”

Igni sighed and leaned his head way back, baring his throat. “She told us her mate had struck one of the twins.” He said quietly. “I took care of it. He denied it until the end, but they all do that and I thought nothing of it. Now... now I wonder if she didn’t lie to save herself. It’s not something I can see her doing, but I thought she’d never intentionally hurt one of her children too.”

He waited, throat and Spirit bared to her. Elysia had a righteous streak when it came to the twins and he wondered what she’d do, what she’d say. He wondered if she thought less of him.

“She never spends any time with them.” The biotic hummed after a few moments. “It was the first thing I noticed when the Primarch took me into his service. She has as little interaction with them as she can, scarcely seeing them for more than birthdays and holidays. It’s like she doesn’t even want them, Igni, and it’s something that completely blows my mind. Why have children if you don’t want them?”

“It happens.” He muttered.

“I know. I still don’t understand. My parents would do anything for me and my brother. By the Spirits, Pa spent the entirety of my early life trying to get the Cabals disbanded so that I wouldn’t know the same hardships he has. Dad left the Blackwatch so he wouldn’t get killed on an op and leave us alone. And she can’t even make eye-contact with the twins. I don’t understand and it makes me so angry and so sad that no words seem to fit the feeling.”

On a past personal level he wasn’t willing to share, Igni couldn’t relate, but he understood what she meant on another objective type of level. You were supposed to love your children unconditionally, it was a universal rule that crossed all species. Not to do so was mind-boggling and the child in question was always left wondering what had been wrong with them when there was nothing.

“Vesimir will take complete guardianship of the twins.” He told her.

“Good. She doesn’t deserve it.” Elysia’s hand brushed his in the water just for a second. “Tell him he should write in a clause.”

“What kind of clause?” Igni asked, shifting his head to face her.

“That if something should happen to him before the twins are of legal age, guardianship would pass to you.”

She said it so simply, so obviously, that Igni could only stare at her, his mandibles hanging loose. 


	29. Day 29: Union

In Service to the Primarch, Cipritine, Palaven: 2260

“So...” Elysia peered at the deep blue gemstone in her palm, a gift of tradition when none of their courting had been traditional. Her mandibles slanted outward in a teasing smile. “Is this a confession of deeper feelings?”

Igni chuckled warmly, his own mandibles flared into a smile. He had spent weeks picking the right gemstone, the size of it meant nothing, but the cut, the clarity, that spoke volumes toward his feelings. “I hardly think a confession is necessary at this point. I mean, if you haven’t figured it out by now...” He teased in return, his shoulders lifted in a shrug. 

Her smile turned a little more warm, a little more shy. It was a good look for her, he thought. A look just for them, seen only in moments where there were no witnesses to the little bit of softness and affection. “I’ll never hear the end of it from Ailuros, he mated like a year into the relationship.”

Mated... Spirits... It had taken him a year to decide he didn’t dislike her, two to discover his attraction, and a total of eight to put name to the feeling in his Spirit and then another two to make the decision that had him standing in front of her with a gemstone. “Well, some people take their time figuring it out.”

“Are we talking about you or me?” Elysia met his eyes. Bright, bright orange, the complementary color to blue and they did compliment each other. 

“I think it could really go either way.” He drawled, smiling widely, unable not to, even as his heart alternated between racing and stopping. “So are you saying yes, or what?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed quietly, but when Igni leaned down, Elysia threw her arms around his neck. 


	30. Day 30: Impulse

Aboard the Talonstriker: 2225

Ailuros fiddled with his hands in his lap and stared at Dad on the terminal screen. “Is... is it too fast?” He finally asked after he’d told Dad what he was planning. “We’ve been datin’ like three years now and I know you and Pa dated that long before you... But we only said _I love you_ to each other for the first time a few months ago... And, Dad? Is it too fast?”

Dad had that kind of strange smile of his, strange because his mandibles weren’t even but one had always been crooked. Not strange because it seemed like a genuinely happy kind of smile, but Ailuros couldn’t tell what Dad was thinking at all and that made him supremely nervous. _He’s gonna say it’s too fast_ , he finally decided and his own mandibles fell limply along his jaw.

“Well,” Dad drawled at length. “I wish we’d’ve met him sooner than just this past summer.”

Ailuros winced. Yeah, Pa had said something similar when he’d brought Hesiod home with him. “We um... cuz he’s older and... my first boyfriend... and I was nervous.” He was nervous now. Dad was going to say he was too young to mate, he just knew it. “But you guys liked him, I know you did and Elysia likes him and-”

“And obviously you like him.” Dad chuckled lowly.

“Yeah.” He blushed and hid his face in his hands for a second. “I wanna... He makes me feel so... dumb, but not in a bad way. Dumb like I’ve got fluttery things in my stomach and I screw up my words cuz I’m so excited to talk to him about anythin’ and whenever I get him to laugh it’s the best feelin’.” Ailuros felt like he was rambling but Dad was nodding his head like he got it. “And I can just see forever with him, y’know? Like you and Pa. I can see that with Hesiod but like... Dad, this feels so impulsive cuz I’m only twenty-four and still in my first tour and he’s in his second but his is yearly. So he could decide not to sign on again at any time and like I _bought_ that place on Parthia for us. But it feels impulsive and I’m not impulsive. I feel like I’ve known him forever, like he’s part of me and I know he feels the same. Like exactly the same.” 

Dad smiled. “You’ve pretty much just described my first few years with your Pa.” He said, his tones warm and full of love. “Alie, if you feel all that and Hesiod does too, then I don’t think you’re movin’ too fast at all.”

“Really?” He blinked. He hadn’t expected that. “You think... you think it’s on course?”

“Love don’t have a time frame.” He laughed loudly. “Spirits. Go on and ask him.

Ailuros nodded avidly, his smile huge. That was all he’d wanted, for Dad to agree with him. “I will.” He said in a rush. “I will and I’ll call you back. Thanks, Dad.” 

...

“Ow ow ow! Alie, what are you-” Hesiod found himself suddenly crammed against the far side of his cockpit after Ailuros squeezed in with him. The cockpit was too small for the both and them and now he had a lot of instruments and things randomly jabbing him. He also had Ailuros’ arms around his waist and his fringe under his chin, the hug so tight he was having trouble drawing breath. “What’s going on?”

“I called my dad.”

“Is something wrong at home?” He asked, rubbing his hands along Ailuros’ back and trying to catch sight of his face but the other pilot had just sort of melded them together and he couldn’t manage it. 

“No,” Ailuros nuzzled all over his chest, purring and chirping. “I just needed some advice and it wasn’t really what I expected but it was still good.”

“Okay?” Hesiod felt a little lost. Ailuros was affectionate, sure, but this was overboard for him and also a little too public when they were both more reserved than that. And he’d also never climbed into his cockpit before. 

“Yeah,” His mandibles gave a wild flutter and that chirping purr stuttered for just a second with his nervous chuckle. “I dunno what I was worried ‘bout.”

“Uhhh I don’t know either?” Yup, he was definitely feeling lost here.

“I love you.” Ailuros chirped.

“I love you too, you goof.” Hesiod said with warm tones, smiling as he bent just a little to kiss his fringe.

Ailuros squeezed at him. “So I love you and you love me,”

“Yup.” He laughed and squeezed him back. “Alie, what’s gotten into you?”

“Nothin’,” He chirped. “I just... Yeah. Things are good. With us. Things are good with us. Perfect, even.”

“Yeah?” Hesiod blinked down at him.

“So... so I bought that little house on Parthia and I wanna... I wanna move into it with you. As um... mates. I want you to be my mate if you wanna be mine?”

Hesiod blinked down at him a few times and then just hauled him closer, bending to push their foreplates together and to kiss him again and again. “You know what, Alie?” He said after a dozen or so kisses. “I really want that too.” 


	31. Day 31: Shiver

Colony of Parthia: 2238

Fifteen years later and Hesiod was still having nightmares about the first and only time he’d crashed his ship. He’d been shot down, his systems had failed and he’d been unable to eject before his ship had slammed into the side of a cliff, thrown him clear of the cockpit and skidded to a stop. Part of the fuselage had crushed his leg and torn him open from ribs to ankle on that side. Half of him was cybernetic and metal now. Ailuros had saved him before the fuel had ignited, before he’d bled to death. It had easily been the worst injury of his life but the memory of it wasn’t what invaded his dreams at night.

For just a moment, when the initial strike had scrambled everything and caused the feedback loop, Hesiod hadn’t just been connected to his ship, he’d been _part_ of the ship. Tromos, he’d named it, and years later the memory of that moment still terrorized him. For a moment, he’d been somewhere so dark and empty like nowhere he’d ever known before. For a moment that had stretched for eons, he hadn’t been alone in that void. There had been something there with him, something immeasurable, something infinite and ancient and aware. 

Hesiod shivered and turned on his opposite side in the bed, threw his arm across Ailuros and cuddled up against his back. His mate didn’t stir in the slightest, well and truly asleep. Hesiod pressed a kiss to the underside of his fringe and just breathed him in over and over. Ailuros had seen something in the ship too, he remembered, something similar to what he’d seen, but he’d only spoken about it once. Hesiod watched him sleep and wondered if it was worth bringing up... But no, that part of their life was behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! We're done with December and done with 2020.  
> Come back tomorrow and I'll have something for January 2021!

**Author's Note:**

> Dame and the Talonstriker belong to turianspeedjunkie over on Tumblr


End file.
